Router Plane Box

This has been on the list for a while. Finally grabbed a piece of 3/4” pine that was baking in the sun on the front porch for a couple of months and started cutting it up, planing it down, dovetailing it.

Some of the best dovetails I’ve cut to date. I gang cut the tails, and including layout, that took under 1/2 hour. The pins took a bit longer as they had to be done individually, and one was smack in the middle of a big knot (bad planning there) but they went fast and only one small gap in the whole thing. OK, there is the fact that a big chunk of that knot broke out, but it’s inside the box. Character.

After it was all together, I decided to try some stain on it. Just some Minwax cherry stain. Amazing what it did to cheap home center pine. Then 3 coats of shellac and some wax. Another decent shop box project. I need to find some way to secure the two extra cutters and the fence so they don’t just slide around in the bottom of the box.

Thanks. Yeah, partially utilitarian, partially getting in practice in making nice joinery, etc. So nicer than it needs to be for a shop box, but if it gets all banged up, I’m not going to worry about it. The velcro is a good idea. I was thinking of something wooden, but now you’ve got me thinking “outside the box”. :)